ladeesman

If I want to install blue LED's anywhere in my car do I have to wire them toanything special or just to a power source?

multiplexor

you can wire them to anything that gives off power. BUT!!!!!!!!
make sure you know how many volts the blue leds are. AND make sure you know the output of the power source you are planning on connecting it to. for example, the cigarette lighter: outputs 12 volts. typical voltage from a led is 3Volts or 5 volts. (we'll use 3 as an example). If you just plug the led onto the power source directly, the led will literally blow up, and an awefull smell work work its way into your nose. You will have to use a smal 1/4 watt resistor to bring the 12 volts down to 3 volts. This involves killing off 9 volts. which i believe comes down to finding a 450 ohm resistor(around that range). formula to find out resistor= 12V - 3V= 9V/.02
12V is the total voltage (cigarette lighter)
3V is the voltage needed to turn the led on.
9V is the voltage that needs to be killed
.020 is the amperage of the LED. When you buy the led it will tell you what the amperage is. On average it's .020mA. (correcet me if i'm wrong)

the result is 450ohms. Simply go out to an electronics store, ask them for a 450 ohm led. + or - (10-15) ohms. i think they only have like 467ohms. close enough.

once you bought a set of 5, go home, get some wires and make sure you hook it up properly. meaning the voltage coming from the cigarette lighter, make sure yuo know which is positive and which is negative.
Simple way to do this:

(someone correct me if i'm wrong )
on the led, look closely you'll see one metal piece go straight up and another which goes in the led and the bends (L Shape).
the L-Shape is the (+) and the metal piece that goes straight up is the negative. hook up the resistor to the (+) metal strip. and attach another wire to the negative side. then (whichever way you decide to do it...) touch those wires to the power source quickly. if it doesn't light, then reverse and try again. DO NOT leave the led connected to the source for too long if it doesn't light, otherwise it'll die on you.

Once it works, there you go, that's all you need to do to hookup a led.

I have a habit of confusing people, which i might have done here. hopefulyl i have not

also, use the search and check up on this subject. a bunch of threads exist.

good luck

ladeesman

O.k well I decided that I would convert my security light to blue. So i took it apart and now it desnt work, neither the red or the blue. A guy at one of the local shops said i should goto te junkyard and get a new one but he couldnt say why, Can someone help me?

geo1317

iTrader: (17)

with led's plarity matters, so try and switching the polarity, if it still dosent work, then its blown

iregula

nice write up...someoen took physics?

ladeesman

Ok so I got a voltmeter and the harness isn't blown, my guess is that its the resistor, so anyway the light works i just need to know how to atach it without the rubber thing or sodering.

multiplexor

hmm that's going to be pretty tricky.... maybe strip the wires and try to wrap them around the leds leads?

i'm lucky, when i was a kid i used to take apart VCR's all the time... they got some really wonder usefull pieces in those things... like wires that have connectors at the end which fit LEDs in perfectly... anywho if you can find an old vcr, you're set... hehe

actually... the rubber thing, i think you can buy some of that stuff and put it on the led and wire like you previosly had it, then with a hair dryer, basically shrink wrap it on. The stuff is made to do that.
They seel it at radio shack to i believe